Half of First Wave at DoD to Be Navy Employees

Civilian employees of the Navy will make up about half of the 300,000 DoD employees who will move into the new DoD national security personnel system in the first wave of implementation, now scheduled for late this year. Of the military services, the Navy has been the most public in pushing to switch over and its secretary, Gordon England, has been named DoD’s point of contact for federal unions that are working to soften some of the provisions of a draft policy on the labor-management relations part of the new system. Rules for other parts of the system, including the appeals, job classification and pay for performance elements, have not been released even in draft form. The Navy has indicated that its current “demonstration project” sites-where alternative personnel practices are being tested-will be excluded. These include the NAVSEA Warfare Centers, the Naval Research Laboratory and the Office of Naval Research. The Navy workforce is being analyzed to determine other groups not covered, and a decision is pending regarding to what extent blue collar employees will be included.